What do you see?
by nirky
Summary: Regina finds an enchanted mirror (but she doesn't really know what it does).


**A/N:** This only exists because misscanteloupe prompted me to do it.

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><p>It's been two weeks and Regina Mills is getting a little tired of her house. It's not that she hasn't left the manor, because she has, almost every day, at night or dawn when it's less likely she'll cross paths with someone she doesn't want to see (the list is increasingly long – she had forgotten how insufferable most fairy tale characters are). It's that there is only so much cleaning and gardening one can do and, with a spotless house and a trimmed-to-perfection garden, Regina has no way of occupying herself with either.<p>

She remembers that the garage hasn't been looked at in months when the book she is reading starts to wear on her – always the same stories, of eternal love and fairly easy struggle to get there. She reads and scoffs and longs for the day when she relates to a story.

~~.~~.~~

The garage is covered in dust and she spots three different species of bugs with just one glance. She should feel furious, but with the burning desire to stay away from Robin and Emma and everyone else's infuriating happiness, Regina is glad to have work that will last her for longer than a day.

Turning her iPod on, she looks at the cardboard boxes that are piled up against the walls for a long moment before she starts opening them.

~~.~~.~~

Something reflects the sunset light and Regina is momentarily blinded by it, bringing a hand to her face to protect her eyes. She pushes the box away with her foot and bends over it, rustling through the collection of folders until she finds a portrait-sized mirror.

Or it should be a mirror, but when she looks at it, the reflection shows her a moving image of herself at the center, with Emma and Henry by her side, the three of them grinning like happy fools.

~~.~~.~~

The second time Regina looks at the mirror is three days later. She had convinced herself that hours of dust inhalation had caused her to hallucinate and Operation Garage had been abandoned for a later opportunity.

She had almost forgotten about the mirror, but the insidious object has a way to reflect the light into her face when she least expects it and so she picks it up from the box, ready to throw it at the nearest wall.

She finds that she can't, not when the reflection that meets her is of Henry bursting with joy and of Emma staring back at her like she is infinitely precious.

~~.~~.~~

"Miss Lucas," Regina calls, when she sees Ruby jogging by the manor as she does every morning.

Ruby takes one earphone off of her ear and approaches the garage, her brow creasing in suspicion. "Yes?"

"Could you…" Regina trails off, embarrassed that she is actually doing this. "Could you please tell me what you see in that mirror?"

Ruby arches an eyebrow and saunters over, oozing sexuality as though it's a second skin. "I see a bar called Red in New York." She frowns and locks eyes with Regina. "Why does it show that? Is the mirror enchanted?"

Regina nods and doesn't answer. She has no idea what the reflections mean.

~~.~~.~~

The second person Regina brings to the mirror is Snow White. She never would have guessed, but the only people allowed inside her house in the last month have been Henry and Snow; the former with love, the latter with begrudging affection.

Snow likes to pretend she doesn't comprehend the mechanics of small town politics, and Regina lets her.

"What is this?" Snow asks, as she enters Regina's study. "It wasn't here the last time."

"Just a mirror I found when I was cleaning the garage," Regina replies, and studies her curiously, waiting for a reaction.

"A mirror?" Snow chuckles, turning to her with a watery smile. "Did you do this?"

"What do you see?"

"Christmas dinner with everyone," Snow says, eyes back on the reflection. "All of us at our house. You and Henry are playing with the baby and Emma and Charming are helping me set the table." Her lips tremble for the slightest moment, and she brings her hands to her chest as if she can't contain the emotion. "I see Christmas dinner with my _family_."

Regina doesn't quite know what to say to that.

~~.~~.~~

"Hey, mom, why do you have a baby version of the Mirror of the Erised in the study?"

Regina winces at his abrasiveness – the kitchen is not far enough to justify such behavior – and joins him where he's standing. "Mirror of the Erised? What are you talking about?"

"You know, like in Harry Potter?" Henry explains excitedly. "Doesn't this show the deepest desire of our hearts?"

"What?" Regina's voice cracks, and she leans against the fireplace to gather strength. "Why would you think that?"

"Well," he starts, and looks at her with interest, noticing the way her hands are fidgeting to correct the positions of already perfectly-well-placed figurines, "I should see my reflection in the mirror, but what I see is you and ma and… and dad." He shrugs, a sad smile on his face, and Regina's heart breaks inside her chest. "I can't imagine anything else that would make me happier, so I guess that's my heart's deepest desire."

Regina takes one step forward and holds her son in her arms.

They close their eyes at the same time. They don't really want to see what they can never have.

~~.~~.~~

Emma Swan is the next person to come across the mirror. It's more of an accident than it is due to Regina's curiosity, but the tension settles around them anyway. It's the first time they've been alone together since what Regina now refers as the time travelling incident.

"Uh, Regina?"

"Yes, dear?" Regina says, not caring that the endearment slips away. She has a glass of cider in hand and is extending it to Emma when she notices that Emma is transfixed with whatever she's seeing reflected in the mirror.

"Is this some sort of prank?" Emma asks, mirth dancing in her green eyes.

Regina sighs, exasperated already. Emma Swan is many things – someone she can be around without feeling incensed and frustrated and thoroughly alive she is _not_. "It's an enchanted mirror."

"Enchanted with what?" Emma snorts, amused. "Egotism?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Regina asks, and when their eyes lock Emma is grinning like the idiot she is, like Regina matters, like this is funny but it's also so so important.

"All I see is you."


End file.
